Match Preview: Drogheda United v Finn Harps

05 July 2018

Drogheda United will be looking to record back-to-back wins when they host Finn Harps at United Park on Friday, kick-off 7.45pm.

The Drogs ended a run of successive defeats with a hard fought 2-1 victory over Cobh Ramblers last week.

Set-piece goals from Ciaran Kelly and Luke Gallagher sealed Drogheda’s 10th win of the campaign much to the delight of manager Tim Clancy.

“We needed that result and it was exactly what we deserved,” the Trim native explained Thursday afternoon. “I thought we were a little off with our passing early on but that’s probably down to the mid-season break and we settled down quickly.

“It was great to get in front but it was a blow to concede the penalty from such an innocuous incident.

“I think we showed real character to come back from a moment like that, compose ourselves and still go on to get the three points.

“It really was the least we deserved after all the bad luck over the last few weeks.”

UCD’s defeat to Longford Town last week leaves Drogheda just four points off the Students though Clancy is quick to point out that there’s only three points between Drogheda and fifth placed Harps.

“It’s just so tight at the top, the picture seems to change every week. It was a bad night for UCD but it was a massive result for Longford which keeps the pressure on us to stay in second place.

“We want to be looking up rather than looking back at what’s behind us but it can all change so quickly.

“We lost last time away to Harps where we should’ve had the game won by half-time. I don’t think the players have forgotten that and hopefully that’ll inspire them to get a positive result on Friday.”

Conor Kane is a doubt for Drogheda but both Jake Hyland and Sean Brennan will return from suspension.